Heal Your Heart (Chakra) With Essential Oils

Let’s face it. When we are in the flow of our yoga practice, it’s easy to tap into our heart’s center and feel inner light radiating with every breath. But once we leave our mats and face the trials and tribulations of living out our lives, our heart center can quickly become bombarded with numerous energies picked up from our surroundings. In this enlightened state, we sometimes retract to protect ourselves, because not everyone shares this expanded, open-hearted perspective.

One way to keep your heart chakra (anahata chakra) open and maintain this compassionate mindset is with the addition of essential oils into your yoga practice—both on and off the mat.

Follow your heart (chakra)

As human beings, we are rarely disciplined enough to operate from 100 percent love and compassion all the time. It is in our nature to react to the world around us, formulating behaviors as we respond to different situations. As we grow and develop our worldviews, there are many factors that make following our heart’s “higher self” difficult.

Our ability to love freely without fear, judgment, or self-consciousness is generated in the heart chakra. However, we need to neutralize any negative feelings and emotions in order to reach this blissful state.

“When it is open fully, the heart chakra becomes what the Buddhists call Mahakaruna, a channel for universal compassion—our true self. It is here where we invite this infinite love to flow through us, allowing it to heal ourselves and others.”

Expand your heart-centered state

In Sanskrit, anahata means unhurt and unbeaten. By incorporating essential oils into our yoga practice or meditation, we can find the needed support for balancing and maintaining this expanded, heart-centered state.

Here are four different combinations of essential oils to help us find the essence of the anahata chakra.

To nurture the spirit and encourage self-love:

Rose is considered a general tonic for the heart. Its calming and supporting abilities are mentioned often throughout history as a symbol of God’s love for the world.

Neroli is soothing and euphoric in its actions, instilling comfort and strength, and encouraging the release of repressed emotions fostering forgiveness.

Ylang Ylang’s voluptuous aroma has the ability to reunite emotional and sensual aspects of the self, allowing the individual to experience pleasure and joy.

To help us feel grounded and secure in our convictions:

Cedarwood provides strength energetically by its fortifying and grounding scent, helping us to hold firm to our ideals with certainty.

Spikenard’s warm and earthy oil has a calming effect on the mind and helps soothe anxiety—instilling a profound sense of peace.

Rosemary reinforces the heart and empowers the mind for a boost in morale and confidence helping us to walk our own true path.

To encourage a cheery disposition:

Bergamot encourages the release of pent up feelings. It redirects nervous energy to help one relax and let go of unexpressed anger.

Melissa’s fresh, lemony, sweet aroma helps restore clarity and a sense of security to those who are overly dependent or needy.

To quiet the mind for meditation and help with focused attention:

Sandalwood reconnects us to a universal truth by diminishing the noise of the intellect and bringing us back to our existential selves.

Frankincense gently tranquilizes and has a deeply clarifying effect on the mind, quieting the mental chatter.

Laurel is a visionary herb used in prophetic rituals. Its essential oil is used to aid concentration, stimulating self-assuredness and bold actions.

A simple mist recipe

There are a few easy ways to add essential oils to your lives on and off the mat. You can create a mist to spritz around the room before or during class—or while your students are in Savasana (Corpse pose).

2 oz. spray bottle

1 oz. distilled water

1 oz. aloe vera gel (to aid in oil dispersion in water)

15 to 20 drops of an essential oil of your choice

Another option is to put your favorite blend into a nebulizing diffuser. This helps create the mood for your class and allows subliminal changes to occur. You can also dab a couple of drops on the corner of your mat or towel near your head, so you get a whiff of its transforming scent as you flow through your vinyasa.

Cary Caster is the spirit of 21 drops®! For as far back as she can remember, Cary has felt a strong connection to plants and nature. From the orange trees she loved to climb as a child in Miami to the desert scrub of the Utah wilderness she explored as a teenager, Cary was never one for staying cooped up indoors.
It was no surprise to Cary’s friends and family that she embraced her passion for nature in her professional life. She majored in horticulture at the University of Florida, went on to pursue her graduate studies in ethnobotany at Lehman College, and managed the Rare Plant House at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the largest tropical botanical garden on the continental United States. She furthered her education, earning academic and clinical degrees in anatomy and physiology and eventually moved to Europe to earn her certification as an Aromatherapist from the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Aromatherapy in the UK as well as her Advanced Clinical Certification from Essential Oil Resource Consultants in France. It was during this time that she became truly fascinated by the transformative and healing powers of essential oils.
Cary used this knowledge to raise her three children in a natural and healthy home. Never treating them with antibiotics or over-the-counter medications, she created her own natural, first-aid-kit of custom-made therapeutic oil blends for pain, colds, allergies and other childhood ailments She used essential oils to help them get up in the morning, to calm them during times of stress, and to inspire and focus them to do their best each day.
Today, not only is Cary the founder and expert behind 21 drops®, but she shares her devotion to healing by sitting on the board of the Alliance of International Aromatherapists and has been featured as an essential oil expert in the Huffington Post, Vanity Fair and Martha Stewart Living, among others. Cary offers continuing education classes in Aromatherapy at the University of Miami’s iCAMP program, and throughout the country.